Crossbows

Okay, Momma Bear bought Pappa Bear a Barnett Wildcat last night as a birthday gift. This puppy came with a red dot and has a 150# pull. Allegedly gets 370fps with carbon bolts equipped with 100 grain heads. Woefully inexperienced with crossbows, although I shoot a PSE Bruin compound bow, and was hopeful to get some pointers from the tribe. It would be nice to have another tool for Bambi this coming season.

There's a man in Texas known as "Iolo" who makes historical crossbows. I understand that the Tower of London actually uses his crossbows for exhibits. If you've played Ultima you know that Iolo is a character in that game universe; Richard Garriot also grew up in Texas and he probably knew this Iolo guy. A friend of mine has an Iolo crossbow. It's high quality craftsmanship, it's old school, and it works. Of course it's not nearly as "nice" as a modern crossbow, but that's not the point.

DaTedBear where are you from? Does your state allow you to hunt Bambi with a crossbow? I know in IL you can only use a crossbow if you are over 65 or disabled.

Don't know where the Op is from, but in Florida you can hunt just about anything with a crossbow as long as you are doing it during the correct time frame. We have bow season, muzzle loader, cross bow, ect.

We used to do it the way you describe, but it was recently changed, and I understand that a lot of states are changing it too.

@Gary...I am in Kentucky. Yes, just as DT says, you are allowed to use a crossbow during specified seasons with bag limits, etc. In Kentucky, there is a primitive weapons season along with the archery and modern gun seasons for deer hunting.

This particular crossbow is a refined instrument over what I had contact with, previously. Since my original post, I had the opportunity to speak with a Game Warden and found that this particular crossbow is used quite a bit in the state and is more than sufficient for taking deer humanely out to 50 yards.

Shot this crossbow in my back yard at 30 yards into a Block target that handled compound bows up to 60 pounds. No match. Went right through the target and imbedded itself into the new stockade fence. (Got it out before Mama bear caught me.) Wow! These things are powerful and pretty quiet! Cannot wait to test it out on wild game.

I have not been able to free up the time to get over to BassPro to check out their goodies for this thing. Apparently, Barnett makes an entire line of accessories and I am going to check them out and compare what is available. I use Muzzy three-blades at 125 grains for my PSE Bruin and they tore a nice doe up this season. If nothing else, I would try those.